1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunications, and more particularly, to a system and method for providing person to person (PTP) telephone services.
2. Background of the Invention
Using the telephone to communicate has become an important aspect of our lives. As a result, almost every family in an industrialized nation has a telephone line. On a daily basis, a typical family may receive a large number of telephone calls. The number of incoming calls could be even larger if the family has become a target customer of a telemarketing campaign. A telephone user may find it annoying to have answered a call not intended for him or her, especially when the call is from an unknown person such as a telemarketing representative.
In addition to avoiding calls from calling parties who are unknown to any member of the family, a telephone user may prefer not to answer a call unless he or she knows specifically that the call is intended for him or her. For example, in a multi-member family comprising a father, a mother, and a son, friends and relatives the father may want to answer calls from only a small of number of his “buddies”. He does not even want to answer calls intended for the wife or the son.
The annoyance of answering calls from unknown calling parties could be aggravated in a call waiting situation. For example, the father could be extremely annoyed when he must temporary put a first call on hold to answer a second call, only to find out the second call is from a telemarketing company.
To avoid answering telephone unwanted or unwelcome calls, a number of solutions have been used. The first solution involves the use of an answering machine. A person using this method decides whether to answer a call when the calling party identifies himself or herself following a greeting played by the answering machine. This solution is effective in screening out undesirable calls. However, the solution also creates a new problem when many calling parties, especially those from whom the person wishes to receive calls, simply hang up as soon as the greeting is played by the answering machine, resulting in fewer communication opportunities between the calling parties and the person. In addition, this solution does not solve the call waiting problem.
A second solution requires the subscription of a service commonly known as the Caller ID service. A telephone service subscriber with the Caller ID service subscription has a device that displays the identity of the calling party. The identity may be the name and/or the telephone number of the calling party. The identity of the calling party may be displayed on the device in alphanumeric characters. Although this solution is arguably better than the first solution, a number of disadvantages exist. For example, the solution still requires the subscriber to review what is displayed on the Caller ID device before deciding whether to answer the incoming call. Like the first solution, the second solution does not solve the call waiting problem.
A third solution involves the installation of multiple telephone lines. For example, each member of a multi-member family has his or her own telephone line. The multiple telephone lines must be adapted to alert associated telephone sets with distinctive ringing tones to enable the members to know whose line is ringing. Although this solution can, to some extent, solve the problems described above, the solution can be expensive. Having multiple telephone lines for one family may not be an affordable luxury for most people.